Package for storing and dispensing thin sheet-like articles



Dec. 30, 1969 R. A. BLATZ PACKAGE FOR STORING AND DISPENSING THIN SHEET-LIKEARTICLES I I Filed Aug. 8, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. ROBERT A. BLATZ ATTORNEYS Dec. 30, 1969 R, A, BL 'Z 3,486,657

PACKAGE FOR STORING AND DISPENSING THIN SHEET-LIKE ARTICLES Filed Aug. 8, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. ROBERT A. BLATZ BY 0%, MM aw ATTORNEYS United States Patent US. Cl. 221-33 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A package for holding and dispensing thin sheet-like articles. A book-like carton has a spine portion connected by fold lines to two spaced-apart pocket-like rectangular compartments. When the carton is open, the two compartments are co-planar and when the carton is folded,

the two compartments abut each other like the first and second halves of a book. The carton holds a stack of sheet-like articles that is flat when the carton is open and is in and bridges the two compartments, so that a single article may be separately removed from the top of the stack through the open space between the two compartments.

This invention relates to an improved package for a plurality of dispensable articles, such as fiat plastic gloves.

Packaging is a very important part of many convenience products, enabling and encouraging consumption of the product. Unimaginative and conventional packaging may handicap the user and discourage a potential buyer from purchasing the product. For example, a product to which the package of the present invention is especially suited is that of disposable plastic gloves of the kind comprising two thin hand-shaped sheets of clear plastic welded together at the edges; the product is quite thin and flat and is opened by a user when he puts his hand in. Such gloves have heretofore often been packaged in rolls or in flat stacks. On rolls, the succeeding gloves tended to overlap each other so that there was no place where an adequate straight tear could safely be made; also, the roll consumed a particular amount of space in a shape which was usually diflicult for a user to store for ready use. In a flat stack, again the space occupied a large area and either one had to open a closed box or carton each time he wanted a glove or else the entire stack was taken out of the carton, in which case the gloves got dirty after a while.

The present invention employs what may be called a book-type package; the package is about the size of a typical book, and the gloves are retained in a folded-over stack. The book-like package is opened fiat for dispensing, to afford easy access to the stack of gloves and make it simple to lift off one glove at a time. The package is provided with an access opening inside the book, where the gloves may individually be taken out when the book is open. The package may then be folded and stored on a shelf among the cookbooks or any other place where a book of the size of this package can be kept.

The invention achieves a marked improvement in convenience for both the display, the storage, and the dispensing of the plastic gloves or of plastic booties or other suitable articles. It enables better use of space while keeping the gloves or other articles both clean and available until use, and it also enables more convenient and more attractive sales displays in stores.

The carton for the package is made from a single blank of pasteboard or cardboard, and can be punched, cut, and scored on well-known types of blanking machines and can be machine-folded after the product (e.g., plastic gloves) has been put in, so that it offers a great con-. venience to the packager as well as to the retailer and user of the package.

In brief, the package comprises a book-like carton having a spine portion connecting two spaced-apart pocketlike rectangular compartments, each connected to the spine by a fold line, so that, when the carton is open, the two compartments are co-planar and when the carton is folded, the two compartments abut each other like the first and second halves of a book. The carton contains a stack of sheet-like articles that are flat when the carton is open, bridging between and filling the compartments.

The carton is made from a single flat blank comprising a narrow rectangular spine portion with short top and bottom edges and long sides, a pair of outer cover portions, one on each long side of said spine portion and connected thereto by a fold line.

An end wall portion lies on the opposite side of each cover portion from the spine portion is connected to the cover portion by a fold line along one edge, and has a flap portion connected to its opposite edge by a fold line. A bottom wall is connected by a fold line along one edge to each outer cover portion and has a flap portion connected to its opposite edge by a fold line having a plurality of perforations therethrough. A top wall portion is connected along one edge by a fold line to each outer cover portion along an edge opposite the bottom wall, and an inner cover portion the same size and shape as the outer cover portion is connected by a fold line to the edge of the top wall portion opposite the outer cover portion. Each inner cover portion has a pair of locking flaps on the edge opposite the top wall portion, the flaps being engageable in the perforations.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description of a preferred form thereof.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a plurality of packages embodying the principles of the invention shown stacked like books on a shelf, i.e., on vertical end. One package is shown in solid lines, and the remaining ones are shown in broken lines. I

FIG. 2 is a similar view of a plurality of packages embodying the principles of the invention stacked on a horizontal base, as books are stacked on a table. Again, only one package is shown in solid lines; the others are shown in broken lines.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view in end elevation of the upper corner of the package looking at the end that opens.

FIG. 4 is a view in perspective of one of the packages from either FIG. 1 or FIG. 2 opened flat to enable dispensing and indicating how plastic gloves are stored inside and are readily accessible when the package is opened flat.

FIG. 5 is a top plan view on a reduced scale of a blank from which the package carton is made, the carton being shown in its fully flat form.

FIG. 6 is a view of a partially folded blank with the carton substantially completed on one side and only partially folded over on the other side. The gloves are omitted from this view, although they would normally be in the package where it is folded, in order that the carton itself may be more clearly seen.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of the folded carton, indicating in phantom thereabove an upper portion before it is tucked into the bottom portion.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a package 10 embodying the principles of this invention gives the general ap pearance of a book, having what may be termed a front cover 11, a rear cover 12, a back spine 13 and two compartments 14 and 15 corresponding generally to two groups of pages in the first and latter halves of a book.

The compartments 14 and 15 have respective closed top walls 16 and 17 (FIGS. 1 and 3), closed bottom walls 18 and 19 (FIGS. 2 and 4), and closed end walls 20 and 21 (FIGS. 3 and 4). Moreover, when the package is opened, as in FIG. 4, it can be seen that each of these compartments 14 and has an internal cover 22 or 23, so that the contents are kept clean.

When the package 10 is opened, just as a book is opened, the two compartments 14 and 15 lie on opposite sides of an access area 25, forming a dispensing area and provided by open space above the spine 13 and the inner edges 28 and 29 of the internal covers 22 and 23, which have cutaway portions 30 and 31 to widen the access area 25 and to give a larger and more convenient dispensing opening. The gloves 32 or other fiat articles, which are to be stored in the package 10 and dispensed from it, are stacked fiat and extend into both compartments 14 and 15, and, of course, extend across the dispensing space 25 in between the two compartments 14 and 15, so that they are quite available. By pinching the top glove 32 and pulling it upwardly, that individual glove can readily be taken out without disturbing any of the other gloves 32 in the package 10, and then the package 10 can be folded and put away like a book into a suitable stack or bookshelf arrangement. For example, when used in a kitchen, it may be kept with the cookbooks; when used in a laboratory, it may be stacked with some of the laboratory notebooks or handbooks.

The inside covers 22 and 23 are not glued to anything but are simply held by interlocking parts of the package. No glue is used in the package 10. How the package 10 is made is shown in FIGS. 5, 6, and 7.

The package carton is made from a single blank 40, shown in its fully flattened condition in FIG. 5. In this blank 40, the spine portion 13 connects the front and rear covers 11 and 12, and the two compartments 14 and 15 are formed by the covers 11 and 2 and a series of flaps connected to them, including the inside covers 22 and 23 which are connected to the outer covers 11 and 12 through the top walls 16 and 17, which lie between fold lines 41, 42 or 43, 44. The end walls and 21 are defined between fold lines 45, 46 or 47, 48 and are provided with side flaps 50, 51 that fold over beneath the inner covers 22, 23. The bottom walls 18 and 19 are defined between fold lines '52, 53 and 54, 55 and have respective flaps 56 and 57 that fold over the side flaps 50 and 51 and beneath the inner covers 22, 23. There may also be four flaps 58, 59, 60, and 61 at the outside corners, which are folded over inside the compartments 14 and 15.

In the fold lines 53, 55 provided between the flaps 56, 57 and the end walls 18, 19 two pairs of openings 62, 63 and 64, 65 are punched out, preferably trapezoidal in shape. The two inside covers 22 and 23 have matching locking tabs 66, 67 and 68, 69 which are connected to the covers 22 and 23 by short fold lines 70 (see FIG. 7) and separated therefrom by cuts 71 and 72. The cuts 71 and 72 leave locking tab portions 73 and 74 that spring back under the inclined walls of the trapezoidal openings 62, 63, 64, 65 and lock the inside covers 22, 23 in place and therefore lock the entire compartments 14, 15 together.

As shown in FIG. 6, the blank 40 is readily folded to provide the two compartments 14 and 15, and the tabs 66, 67, 68, 69 provide the necessary lock without having to provide any glue or anything other than what the blank 40 carries. Before folding the carton, the product 32 is first loaded into the package by placing it on the inner surfaces of the covers 11 and 12, and it then covers the area generally outlined in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 shows that the end walls 20, 21 and their flaps 50, 51 are first folded over the gloves 32; at the same time the flaps 58, 59, and 61 are folded into place. Then the bottom walls 18, 19 and their flaps 56 and 57 are folded over the flaps 50 and 51. Then the inside covers 22, 23 are folded over and the tabs 66, 67 and 68, 69 are locked in place in the openings 62, 63 and 64, 65. FIG. 6 shows one side of the device completed and the other one in process.

To those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, many changes in construction and widely differing embodiments and applications of the invention will suggest themselves without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A book-like carton comprising a single flat blank having a narrow rectangular spine portion with short top and bottom edges and long sides,

a pair of outer cover portions, one on each long side of said spine portion and connected thereto by a fold line,

an end wall portion on the opposite side of each said cover portion from said spine portion and connected to said cover portion by a fold line along one edge and having a flap portion connected to its opposite side edge by a fold line,

a bottom wall connected by a fold line along one edge to each said outer cover portion and having a flap portion connected to its opposite edge by a fold line having a plurality of perforations therethrough,

a top wall portion connected along one edge by a fold line to each said outer cover portion along an edge opposite said bottom wall,

an inner cover portion the same size and shape as said outer cover portion connected by a fold line to the edge of each said top wall portion that is opposite from said outer cover portion, and

a pair of locking flaps on the edge of said inner cover portion opposite from said top wall portion, said flaps being engageable in said perforations.

2. The carton of claim 1 having recessed edge portions along the side edges of said inner cover portions that lie closest to said spine portion.

3. The carton of claim 1 wherein each said perforation is trapezoidal in shape and wherein each said tab is about the same length as said perforation and is connected to its said inner cover portion by a short central fold line with cuts on each side thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 900,751 10/ 1908 Lockwood 22972 2,085,649 6/1937 Gluck 221--33 X 2,779,500 1/1957 Thomasma 20657 STANLEY H. TOLLBERG, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.Rv 20656 

